The Clinton High School boys basketball team surged in the fourth quarter to knock off Addison, 47-39, in a non-conference game Saturday night.

Clinton (3-0) was down 32-26 heading into the fourth quarter, before it exploded for 21 points and held Addison (1-1) scoreless for almost seven minutes.

"We were a mystery for three quarters," said Clinton coach Mike Ruhl. "I thought we played fine on defense for the night, but we struggled early with a lot of missed shots and lay-ups."

Addison came out firing on all cylinders to start the game. The Panthers were able to take a quick lead due to their outside shooting. Addison's Jarett Flynn made two of the team's four first-quarter 3s as the Panthers took a 20-10 lead in the first.

Clinton got excellent play from Grant Clark, who proved essential to the Redskin offense early on, scoring five of his 10 points in the first. Unfortunately, Clark was called for two fouls early on and was forced to sit the latter half of the quarter.

The Panthers went from red hot to ice cold from behind the arc in the second quarter. With the outside shooting suffering, Addison struggled to do much of anything on offense for the rest of the half. The Redskins also switched to a zone and kept Addison's big men — Luke Meyer and Tyler Corbin — from posting up inside.

"We were inconsistent tonight," said Addison coach Andrew Kubish. "You're going to get that with a young team, though. We had a lot of open looks early, but when they switched to a zone, we struggled. Shots stopped falling, and we couldn't work it inside like we wanted."

Capitalizing the Panthers' offensive struggles, Clinton was able to close the gap in the second quarter and went into the half down 25-21.

Both teams struggled in the third quarter offensively as the game began to get more physical. Clinton used its size to its advantage,while the Panthers relied more on their speed and hustle to keep the lead.

"I was pleased with our defensive effort," said Ruhl. "We spotted them some early points from their outside shooters, but we were able to shut down Meyer and Corbin, which was our focus. Our guards stepped up a lot on defense and made it difficult to even get the ball inside."

The fourth quarter saw the Redskins go on a tear from beginning to end. Clinton started the quarter with an 11-0 run and tied the game with six minutes left. The Redskins took the lead just a few seconds later when TJ Baker nailed a deep 3 to give Clinton the lead. The Redskins continued to roll and stuffed the Panthers' offense for much of the quarter.

"When we were really pressed and pressured by Clinton, we didn't execute," said Kubish. "I'm disappointed with our ball carelessness in the second half."

Page 2 of 2 - Clinton struggled at the foul line in the fourth, but made just enough to earn the victory.

"A lot of the late free throws could have iced the game for us," Ruhl said. "We have to improve on our free-throw shooting or we're going to have some heartbreak this season. It could have been tonight."

Baker led the way for the Redskins with 15 points, five steals and three assists. Clark finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Ricky Miller had nine points and six rebounds. Marco Nunzi added 13 points and six assists for the Redskins.

Addison was led by Flynn, who had 13 points, four rebounds and two steals. Meyer finished with eight points and six rebounds, while Corbin had five points, four rebounds and two assists. Mitchell Dempsey added three points, three assists and two steals for the Panthers.